Urban Airship acquires SimpleGeo in all-stock deal

Urban Airship made its first acquisition Monday in a deal that lands the fast-growing mobile software development startup a second location.

Portland-based Urban Airship acquired San Francisco-baed SimpleGeo and its staff of 13 engineers in an all-stock transaction. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

SimpleGeo is described as a developer of a real-time software platform that allows mobile application developers to build location-aware features into Web and mobile apps.

That functionality will be yet another layer in Urban Airship’s mobile app offerings, which already includes software that helps app developers incorporate push notifications and in-app purchases into their programs.

“We sat down and started digging in and shared with them what we’re with our customers,” Urban Airship CEO Scott Kveton said. “It became clear there was value there in what we could do to extend our platform.”

In addition to providing location-based tools to app developers, SimpleGeo’s software also helps them easily segment customers. By combining the two companies services, Urban Airship said a retailer could now use their tools to develop an app that pushes coupons out to a consumer in their store’s parking lot or walking down a certain aisle.

In another example, the company said a professional sports team could send different messages to fans at the stadium, on the couch or at a pub.

The deal is a marriage between two venture-backed startups in the hot space of mobile development.

Urban Airship has raised $6.5 million in two rounds since its founding in 2009. SimpleGeo has raised just under $10 million. The groups share one investor, Boulder, Colo.-based Foundry Group.

Kveton wouldn’t provide specifics, but said Urban Airship’s sales have grown more than 600 percent this year.

The company will now oversee both the Portland headquarters and the newly acquired San Francisco offices, for a combined staff of 51 people. Kveton said the company has another 12 job openings waiting to be filled.

The combined company is going to “continue to integrate their platform into ours and really step on the gas in terms of growing our business,” Kveton said. “We’re excited about building a solid business in Portland; we think will have significant impact here.”